Bhopal court acquits Muslim man in conversion case after wife rejects police allegations

A Bhopal sessions court has acquitted a 26-year-old Muslim man in a case registered under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act after the prosecution failed to prove allegations of forced religious conversion, fraud or coercion.

The case against Saiyyad Khan was registered after police alleged that he had concealed his religious identity, used a false name to marry a Hindu woman and pressured her to convert to Islam.

On February 7, 2025, Khan and the woman, who belonged to different religious communities, travelled from Narmadapuram district to Bhopal to marry under the Special Marriage Act. Khan was assaulted by a group of lawyers inside the Bhopal district court before being arrested on allegations of forced conversion.

The couple were reportedly neighbours who became friends and later fell in love. Police alleged that Khan had deceived the woman, pressured her to marry him, change her name and convert to Islam.

However, the woman, who was also the complainant, later rejected the allegations. In her statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and during cross-examination, she denied that Khan had threatened, deceived or physically abused her or forced her to convert.

She told the court that she had married Khan voluntarily and knew his religious background. She reportedly said the police version had resulted from miscommunication and pressure from her family.

The prosecution failed to produce sufficient independent witnesses, documentary evidence or other material establishing force, fraud, undue influence or coercion.

The court held that criminal liability under the anti-conversion law could not be established on allegations alone and that the prosecution had to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. Khan was subsequently acquitted.

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain described Khan as a victim of what he called the BJP's “politics of intimidation and hatred”. He alleged that Khan had been persecuted for exercising his legal right to marry a partner of his choice and questioned how many more lives would be destroyed in the name of “love jihad”.

The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2020, replaced the state's 1968 law and prohibits conversions through force, fraud, coercion, misrepresentation, undue influence, allurement, or marriage. In March 2025, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced plans to introduce the death penalty for those convicted of forcibly converting girls to another religion.